“Found Text” Abstracts

Over the course of the semester, each student will write an abstract and lead a discussion about an existing DH research project that is text-based -OR- propose a project that has not yet been developed.

The reason they are called “Found Texts” is because the promise of the Digital Humanities has been that we collectively have opportunities to analyze and publish the most comprehensive corpora ever … that we need not restrict ourselves to “canonical”1 texts. And yet, text-oriented DH projects continue to reify the canon, or reconfigure it along the same lines that scholarly print publications dictated. So how do we – you – push back against this dictation?

Each of you will write one abstract of approximately 150 words, along with proper citation (see “Case Studies” page for model) and lead a 10-minute in-class discussion about a digital humanities research project that pushes back against traditional print paradigms and canonical subjects and objects.